Interannual Variability of GPS Heights and Environmental Parameters over Europe and the Mediterranean Area
Vertical deformations of the Earth’s surface result from a host of geophysical and geological processes. Identification and assessment of the induced signals is key to addressing outstanding scientific questions, such as those related to the role played by the changing climate on height variations....
Published in: | Remote Sensing |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
MDPI AG
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081554 https://doaj.org/article/edb6c5283bd6458194179a8fdc882ad3 |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:edb6c5283bd6458194179a8fdc882ad3 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:edb6c5283bd6458194179a8fdc882ad3 2023-05-15T15:14:31+02:00 Interannual Variability of GPS Heights and Environmental Parameters over Europe and the Mediterranean Area Letizia Elia Susanna Zerbini Fabio Raicich 2021-04-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081554 https://doaj.org/article/edb6c5283bd6458194179a8fdc882ad3 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/8/1554 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs13081554 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/edb6c5283bd6458194179a8fdc882ad3 Remote Sensing, Vol 13, Iss 1554, p 1554 (2021) GPS height variability environmental parameters principal component analysis (PCA) singular value decomposition (SVD) Science Q article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081554 2022-12-30T20:32:57Z Vertical deformations of the Earth’s surface result from a host of geophysical and geological processes. Identification and assessment of the induced signals is key to addressing outstanding scientific questions, such as those related to the role played by the changing climate on height variations. This study, focused on the European and Mediterranean area, analyzed the GPS height time series of 114 well-distributed stations with the aim of identifying spatially coherent signals likely related to variations of environmental parameters, such as atmospheric surface pressure (SP) and terrestrial water storage (TWS). Linear trends and seasonality were removed from all the time series before applying the principal component analysis (PCA) to identify the main patterns of the space/time interannual variability. Coherent height variations on timescales of about 5 and 10 years were identified by the first and second mode, respectively. They were explained by invoking loading of the crust. Single-value decomposition (SVD) was used to study the coupled interannual space/time variability between the variable pairs GPS height–SP and GPS height–TWS. A decadal timescale was identified that related height and TWS variations. Features common to the height series and to those of a few climate indices—namely, the Arctic Oscillation (AO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the East Atlantic (EA), and the multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index (MEI)—were also investigated. We found significant correlations only with the MEI. The first height PCA mode of variability, showing a nearly 5-year fluctuation, was anticorrelated (–0.23) with MEI. The second mode, characterized by a decadal fluctuation, was well correlated (+0.58) with MEI; the spatial distribution of the correlation revealed, for Europe and the Mediterranean area, height decrease till 2015, followed by increase, while Scandinavian and Baltic countries showed the opposite behavior. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Remote Sensing 13 8 1554 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
GPS height variability environmental parameters principal component analysis (PCA) singular value decomposition (SVD) Science Q |
spellingShingle |
GPS height variability environmental parameters principal component analysis (PCA) singular value decomposition (SVD) Science Q Letizia Elia Susanna Zerbini Fabio Raicich Interannual Variability of GPS Heights and Environmental Parameters over Europe and the Mediterranean Area |
topic_facet |
GPS height variability environmental parameters principal component analysis (PCA) singular value decomposition (SVD) Science Q |
description |
Vertical deformations of the Earth’s surface result from a host of geophysical and geological processes. Identification and assessment of the induced signals is key to addressing outstanding scientific questions, such as those related to the role played by the changing climate on height variations. This study, focused on the European and Mediterranean area, analyzed the GPS height time series of 114 well-distributed stations with the aim of identifying spatially coherent signals likely related to variations of environmental parameters, such as atmospheric surface pressure (SP) and terrestrial water storage (TWS). Linear trends and seasonality were removed from all the time series before applying the principal component analysis (PCA) to identify the main patterns of the space/time interannual variability. Coherent height variations on timescales of about 5 and 10 years were identified by the first and second mode, respectively. They were explained by invoking loading of the crust. Single-value decomposition (SVD) was used to study the coupled interannual space/time variability between the variable pairs GPS height–SP and GPS height–TWS. A decadal timescale was identified that related height and TWS variations. Features common to the height series and to those of a few climate indices—namely, the Arctic Oscillation (AO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the East Atlantic (EA), and the multivariate El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) index (MEI)—were also investigated. We found significant correlations only with the MEI. The first height PCA mode of variability, showing a nearly 5-year fluctuation, was anticorrelated (–0.23) with MEI. The second mode, characterized by a decadal fluctuation, was well correlated (+0.58) with MEI; the spatial distribution of the correlation revealed, for Europe and the Mediterranean area, height decrease till 2015, followed by increase, while Scandinavian and Baltic countries showed the opposite behavior. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Letizia Elia Susanna Zerbini Fabio Raicich |
author_facet |
Letizia Elia Susanna Zerbini Fabio Raicich |
author_sort |
Letizia Elia |
title |
Interannual Variability of GPS Heights and Environmental Parameters over Europe and the Mediterranean Area |
title_short |
Interannual Variability of GPS Heights and Environmental Parameters over Europe and the Mediterranean Area |
title_full |
Interannual Variability of GPS Heights and Environmental Parameters over Europe and the Mediterranean Area |
title_fullStr |
Interannual Variability of GPS Heights and Environmental Parameters over Europe and the Mediterranean Area |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interannual Variability of GPS Heights and Environmental Parameters over Europe and the Mediterranean Area |
title_sort |
interannual variability of gps heights and environmental parameters over europe and the mediterranean area |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081554 https://doaj.org/article/edb6c5283bd6458194179a8fdc882ad3 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
genre_facet |
Arctic North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation |
op_source |
Remote Sensing, Vol 13, Iss 1554, p 1554 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/8/1554 https://doaj.org/toc/2072-4292 doi:10.3390/rs13081554 2072-4292 https://doaj.org/article/edb6c5283bd6458194179a8fdc882ad3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081554 |
container_title |
Remote Sensing |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1554 |
_version_ |
1766344960840302592 |